R.I.P Jerry Heller

Former music manager/music label owner, Jerry Heller passed away at 75 years old yesterday. Cause of death? Heart attack.God bless his soul.

In case you don't know who he was, the man played a big part in the success of the legendary Hip Hop group, N.W.A (Niggas With Attitude). Back in 1987, he signed a partnership deal with Eazy E to form Ruthless Records, and used his connections (he had been managing successful musicians as far back as the 70s and 60s) in the music industry to push N.W.A's music to nationwide status in the U.S.

What's Your Take on The N.W.A Biopic Movie; Straight Outta Compton

I finally got to watch the N.W.A Biopic Movie, Straight Outta Compton yesterday, and I wasn't disappointed. With a budget of $28 million, the movie has already grossed $120 million in less than three weeks; that's more than 400% return on investment. It has been at the top of the box office chart two weeks straight. Nice!!! More money for Ice Cube's movie producing company, Cube Vision, which partnered with Legendary Pictures, New Line Cinemas, Crucial Films, and Broken Chair Flickz to make this movie.

Okay, enough of the money and technical talk, let's get to talking about the movie itself. I have to say this is one the best biopic movies of any musician (s) I have see. I guess because it is so raw and real. And it portrays the early lives of individuals that would go on to heavily influence the Hip Hop world. From Ice Cube turning his back on his group mates, because he felt cheated (he wrote most of Dre and Eazy's lyrics). To Eazy E going on to sign Bone Thugz N Harmony, one of the most successful rap groups ever. To Dre going to find snoop, Eminem, 50 Cent, Game, and now Kendrick Lamar. All of these have their roots in N.W.A being created by Dre, and Eazy E back in 1986-1987.

Jerry Heller Says Eazy-E Planned To Kill Suge Knight

In a recent interview, Jerry Heller revealed that the late Eazy E planned to kill Suge Knight. Jerry Heller and Eazy started Ruthless Recods together back in 1986. Ruthless Records major act was NWA (Ice Cube, MC Ren, Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and DJ Yella). Ice Cube left the group in 1989 when he claimed Heller and Eazy-E were cheating the group (NWA) out of money. And then, Dr. Dre followed in 1991. Suge Knight actually threatened Eazy with his mother's life before he could get Dre out of the contract with Ruthless Records. Suge and Dre started Death Row Records in 1991 and created another legendary HipHop empire which included Snoop and Tupac.

Below are words from Jerry Heller-

"Eazy said, 'You know this guy Suge Knight?' I said, 'Yeah.' He says, 'Well, I'm gonna kill him!' He said, 'This guy is gonna be a problem and I think I should kill him.' I said, 'Let me think this thing through. First of all, we're doing $10 million a month with six employees. We don't even have a typewriter in the office. We're the most successful start-up record company in the history of the music business and you want to kill this guy? That just doesn't make any sense to me.' You know something? I should have let him kill him. You know? I would have done the world a favor. He would have done it for sure by himself. He always rolled by himself and he was fearless...I think that he was going to go do it. I took him seriously. He was right and I was wrong. I shouldn't have talked him out of it."

If Eazy-E had gone ahead with that, then there would not have been a man called Suge Knight around to bail Tupac out of jail in 1995, and make him go all out with the Biggie beef. And maybe Big and Pac would still be here. That's just my analogy.